In February, 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation’s largest lenders reached a $25 billion settlement intended to provide financial relief to more than one million current and former homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. However, the deal also created new guidelines that could make it easier for lenders to issue more foreclosure notices – potentially bringing a new spike in such actions, noted Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure data.

More than 105,000 foreclosure notices were issued in New York City between 2001 and 2011. This interactive graphic to the right offers a year-by-year view, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Civic Virtue, a statue designed by sculptor Frederick MacMonnies in the early 1900s, has been the subject of controversy since the artwork landed in Kew Gardens 71 years ago. The piece was intended to depict “good government over corruption.” But the marble statue – showing a nude, classical male figure representing Civic Virtue standing atop twin sirens representing Vice and Corruption – has been assailed as sexist.

There’s no disagreement that Civic Virtue, after decades of exposure to the elements intersection of Union Turnpike and Queens Boulevard, is crumbling. But there’s little accord on whether it’s worth spending public funds to restore MacMonnies’ statue.